“Ugh—”
Under a large tree, a young man wore a pained expression. He was now leaning back against the tree.
“Ugh… I have no energy at all…”
The young man glanced toward the thicket not far from him, as if waiting for someone.
“I shouldn’t have run so far.”
This young man was the same one who had vanished in a flash earlier—Qin Mu. But now he was back to his wilted state.
Based on past experience, Miss Mengyu and the others should be arriving soon. Taking advantage of this gap, he decided to rest a bit.
Qin Mu shifted his body, trying to find a more comfortable position to lie down. Suddenly, his hand touched a stone—a real eyesore.
He instinctively wanted to pick up the stone and throw it away, but when his hand pressed down on it, he heard a crack.
The next moment, the tree he had been leaning against suddenly split open with a fissure.
“Wait!”
Qin Mu’s eyes widened. Before he could even get to his feet, his body tumbled backward due to gravity.
He struggled a bit, his little hands flailing to grab the tree roots, but it was too late.
“Aaaah!”
His body fell into the pitch-black tree hole inside the trunk.
Crack—
The sound came again, and the tree hole closed shut.
Not far away, Qin Ruoshuang and Qin Mengyu heard their younger brother’s cry and immediately flashed over.
Lu Shuanger, upon hearing this, dared not hesitate and hurried after them. Could Qin Mu have encountered some Gu insect?
But that shouldn’t be. Qin Mu had on him a Gu insect cultivated from her own Essence Blood. Ordinary Gu insects wouldn’t dare approach.
When the three arrived, all they found was the trace of someone leaning against a large tree. There was nothing else, not even signs of a struggle.
“It actually led here?!”
Lu Shuanger saw the tree and stepped forward to examine the stone. Sure enough, it had been triggered.
“Miss Shuanger, do you know what this is about?”
Qin Mengyu scanned the surroundings. Mu’er’s aura had disappeared right around here.
“I do recognize it.”
Lu Shuanger pressed the stone again, but there was no reaction. It seemed the Gu tribe on the other side had discovered it and locked it.
“Sister Mengyu, I can confirm that Qin Mu accidentally pressed this stone, triggering one of our secret passages.”
“In that case, Miss Shuanger, open it once more, and we’ll go in.”
Lu Shuanger shook her head and explained, “Sister Mengyu, the situation now is that Qin Mu has probably been captured by the Gu tribe. To prevent anyone else from entering, they’ve locked it from that side.”
Ding—
A crisp metallic sound rang out. At some point, Qin Ruoshuang had a long sword in her hand, and judging by her stance, she intended to split the tree open.
“Move aside.”
As soon as the words fell, a sword qi struck the large tree.
A bolt of sword qi that could cut down a thousand-year-old tree now only left a white scratch on the bark of the tree before them.
Lu Shuanger touched the tree with her finger, rubbing it. “It seems this tree has been refined. But I know where this leads.”
“Then let’s hurry.”
With that, Qin Mengyu grabbed Lu Shuanger and set off.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Qin Mu had experienced a roller coaster without any restraints inside the tree hole—or rather, a hole coaster.
After going through what felt like eighteen bends—or just a whole lot of twists and turns—he finally came to a stop.
“Ugh!”
Qin Mu dry-heaved. His stomach was churning violently; if he had rolled any longer, he would have thrown up.
Before him was a cave opening. With his hands on his knees, Qin Mu stood up shakily. The closer he got to the opening, the more blinding the light became.
Stepping out of the cave, he was instantly dumbfounded. Before him was a desert landscape, and the soil beneath his feet had turned to sand.
“Wait, where did this drop me? Is this still the Wildlands?”
Qin Mu looked down, lifted his foot, and saw some soil still stuck to his shoes.
Swish swish swish!
Several sounds of air being rent came, and seven or eight figures flew over rapidly, landing in front of Qin Mu.
Except for one old man whose aura was at the Golden Core Realm, the rest were at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
“Ahaha… greetings, everyone.”
Qin Mu forced an awkward but polite smile.
‘What the hell is going on now?!’
Qin Mu screamed internally.
Hearing Qin Mu speak, the people before him were taken aback. They huddled together and jabbered away in a language Qin Mu couldn’t understand.
It was like a northerner going to Fujian or Guangdong—they couldn’t make out a word they said.
After what seemed like half an hour of discussion, a man in green robes stepped forward and asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
“My name is Zhang San, from the Western Regions.”
Qin Mu lied through his teeth without batting an eye. He had no choice—when out and about, he had to disguise his identity.
“What are you doing at our stronghold?”
“I came here by accident. I was resting against a tree earlier, and when I pressed a stone, I ended up here.”
The green-robed man relayed Qin Mu’s words to the old man. After listening, the old man jabbered something back to him.
“Since you say so, please come with us to verify your identity. If it’s true, we’ll send you out.”
Seeing that the green-robed man’s attitude was decent and that he promised to send him out later, Qin Mu nodded in agreement.
“No problem. Thank you all very much.”
With that, Qin Mu followed the group.
Looking at it this way, it was quite unbelievable. While the Wildlands did have deserts, they weren’t on Qin Mu’s group’s route.
Though he was curious, Qin Mu held back his questions.
After a while, Qin Mu arrived at what the green-robed man called the stronghold. He had thought it would be small, but when he looked out, holy crap! It was a full-fledged metropolis!
Qin Mu was standing on a cliff about a hundred meters high, taking in the entire vista. At the same time, he wondered—since this was a desert with so many people, where did the water come from?
Following the green-robed man, Qin Mu was led to a place resembling an inn.
“Please wait here a moment. Can you present a token to prove your identity?”
“Oh, sure.”
Qin Mu took out a jade bracelet from his storage pouch. It was given to him earlier by Aunt Lu, and it happened to be a gift from a Western Regions sect during an exchange between two sects.
The green-robed man accepted the jade bracelet and then signaled to two other men beside him.
At his signal, the two men sat down not far from Qin Mu—neither disturbing him nor relaxing their surveillance.
“Heh, though it’s a bit rude, please forgive us. The rules are like this.”
“No problem. I understand.”
Qin Mu indicated that it was fine.
After watching the green-robed man leave, Qin Mu lifted the teapot on the table. Hmm, there was water.
He poured it into a teacup, and a brownish-green liquid flowed out.
Uh… this color… gave him a bit of a weird feeling.
Out of caution, Qin Mu chose not to drink it. He was already having trouble adjusting to the new environment; drinking this cup of tea might upset his stomach, and he would only suffer for it.
And so Qin Mu waited and waited, bored out of his mind, almost falling asleep from the tedium. Finally, the green-robed man who had left earlier returned.
Seeing the green-robed man appear, Qin Mu perked up.
“So? When will you take me out?”
“Out?”
The green-robed man gave a cold laugh. Swish! Four or five figures flashed around Qin Mu, pointing at him, and the man shouted, “Seize him!”
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